What do dining halls, women’s showers at Hemenway, and shared course outlines have in common? These are all resources available at Harvard Law School today that were put into place by students of yesterday.

Historical & Special Collections’ new exhibit takes a look at how students and their ever-increasing number of law clubs, social clubs, and affinity groups have contributed to HLS culture over time. We feature long-lost organizations whose memory lives solely in the archives, current groups with storied histories that have persisted through many generations, and recently-formed groups who have already begun to make significant headway in shaping the future of HLS. We also exhibit some reactions the community has had to student organizations in the past – from interest in their proposed “spicy reforms” to warnings of “crystallizing clap trap.”

Photograph of a Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) national meeting that was held in the Ames Courtoom on the HLS campus. March 1972; Unknown photographer.

Following an archival collecting project undertaken by Historical & Special Collections in 2016-2018, the exhibit also addresses how archivists here at HLS and abroad are coordinating efforts to preserve today’s student histories.

This exhibit was curated by Jessica Farrell and Jane Kelly of Historical & Special Collections. It will be on view in the Caspersen Room through January 2019 with online addenda at bit.ly/HSCexhibit.